


your hands are rough but they are where mine belong in

by pepesaiko



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Angst, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-05
Updated: 2015-07-05
Packaged: 2018-04-07 19:50:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4275846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pepesaiko/pseuds/pepesaiko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>slightly based off of 'ours' by taylor swift</p>
            </blockquote>





	your hands are rough but they are where mine belong in

**Author's Note:**

> enjoy~

Kuroko Tetsuya hustles through the busy street, clutching his backpack along with the files he had been told to organize the night before. He shudders as he makes his way past hundreds of other people rushing to work. It was early, nearing 6 am, and cold. He had made sure to bundle in sweaters underneath his suit, even if his boss had continuously told him it was against uniform policy. _It’s cold, so what can he do anyways?_ He thinks.

The office building had a light system that was always glitchy and ever since that rough storm Tokyo had two weeks ago, it had gotten worse, but of course management was too cheap and lazy to fix anything so now there was a continuous buzzing sound in the lobby.

“Good morning, Kiyoshi-san,” Kuroko greets the janitor who smiles and waves at him. He was glad that at least the building had heating. Work was tough, especially so when one was running on a one person income from filing things in an office space. Last night he had eaten ramen straight from the cup. He sighs, feeling the emptiness sink into his stomach causing a turmoil of exhaustion and depression. Quickly, he checked his watch. _6:10._ 9 more hours.

“Hold the elevator!” he says, rushing to squeeze into the small compartment, offering a silent bow to the people glaring at him. A couple of men eye him from the back, but he rolls his eyes and exhales. He wonders how it’s possible for people to lead such boring and dull lives. All of them, with their identical expressions and vacant stares. But then again, he supposes he can’t be one to judge since he does absolutely the same thing.

He watches the red digits go from the 3rd floor to the 10th floor to the 15th floor. All around him, people in expensive suits and dresses push past his slim body until he’s the last one in the body. “Hey!,” he exclaims, but walks out the elevator just the same, brushing out his cheap, hand-me-down suit from one of his cousins.

All around him, his colleagues are as dead as he is, dark circles underneath their eyes, messy bed hair, and the endless simultaneous tapping of fingers hitting the keyboard. He trudges to his own desk, placing his bag on the desk and taking off his overcoat. A paper plane falls on his desk and he looks next to him at the young intern who has a sheepish look on his face. “Sorry, Kuroko-san,” he says, scratching the back of his neck. Kuroko sighs, there’s no point in getting angry at the young. 24 is still young, but he’s seen far more troubles in the last five years than most people at age 30.

“It’s alright, Kagami-kun,” he says instead, turning back to his own work. Almost immediately, a pile of papers fall onto his desk. He looks at the person who dropped the papers, questioningly.

“Boss says you have to reorganize them, this time by name,” the blonde-haired girl says, popping a bubble with the gum she’s chewing. Kuroko feels anger bubbling inside him.

“But I already-,” he starts but the girl buts in. “ _First_ name,” she says, eyeing Kuroko’s inexpensive, overused clothes and walking away, high heels clacking in her wake. Kuroko glares at her slim waist disappearing behind a door and begrudgingly opens the large folder.

He starts to reorganize the patient files, eyes getting sorer by the second. Paying off bills last night had taking up most of his exhaustion and left him knocked out as soon as he had hit his pillow- only to wake up a few hours later to get ready for work.

Quick, bony fingers work rapidly and efficiently alongside sharp eyes that see through A’s D’s and M’s. An indescribable amount of time later, he exhales loudly, finally finished. He checks through once more to make sure everything is perfect before getting up with the bundle in his hand.

He walks a few steps before a hard push has both him and the paper falling to the ground, all 500 sheets of paper fluttering in the office air like butterflies. He sits on the floor, shocked.

“Oops, Kuroko-kun, _sorry,”_ the high pitched voices laugh and Kuroko only gets the glimpse of expensive high heels but he knows who they are. Girls who were bitter of Kuroko. _Of what? They have everything I could ever want,_ Kuroko thinks angrily, piling up all his hard work. They were bitter because Kuroko’s fiancé was the man of their dreams.

“Here, I’ll help,” a hand reaches out to pile up the paper. Kuroko looks up to find Kagami, helping him pick up the mess. “Thanks,” he murmurs. They both clean the mess but it just means that Kuroko has to redo his organization.

“Those girls are cruel,” Kagami says, slamming a fist onto the table. Kuroko hums, already sorting out the papers. He checks his watch once more.  _8:05._ Determination bubbles in him once more and he’s at it again like lightning. He finishes in less than an hour, fingers tired and back straining from being hunched over the desk. Kagami offers to take it to the boss, which Kuroko graciously accepts. _Amn’t i too young to have back pains?_ He thinks as he stretches.

“What time is the flight touching down?” Kagami asks, fingers clacking away on the keyboard. Kuroko is set at work on an excel spread due by next week.

“3:00,” he answers, feeling the excitement bubble inside him. Kagami smiles next to him.

>> 

“You want to grab some lunch with me?” Kagami asks them at 11. It’s lunch break, a time when all the upper class employees would scout the breakroom for lower class workers to harass-and in that time Kuroko would usually be sitting at his desk, continuing his work.

“It’s alright,” he says, humbly, “I’m fine here.” Kagami shrugs and heads off to the room. Kagami wasn’t like all the rich people. He was humble, down to earth, perhaps the reason being was that he actually worked his way to the top, not feeding off their parents’ money like some.

 _Alright, now what hemorrhage cream was sent to this pharmaceutical..?_ Kuroko thinks as he works on his spread. He almost doesn’t hear the all too familiar clacking of heels nearing his workspace. His fingers instinctively tense on the keyboard but he loosens them and continues typing.

“You hear Seiji-kun went off to enlist in the army?’

“Yeah, too bad he got broke and all, he was _sooo_ hot,”

“Speaking of, I can’t believe he chose _that_ over Yuriko-chan,”

“Wasn’t he dating her for a long time?”

“What sis he see in Kuroko-kun anyways?”

 _Just block them out, words can’t hurt you, not anymore,_ he thinks, but he ends up typing gibberish onto the computer. He can’t block out their hurtful words, instead he’s helpless, hands stopping on the keyboard, waiting for break to end. He glances at his watch again. _11:30._ the uneasiness is immediately replaced with hope.

Just as he had hoped, the troupe walks away with disdained looks at Kuroko, and Kuroko can’t help but feel like he won.

>> 

1 pm comes around quickly, especially since most of the time was spent with Kuroko actually doing his work. He hands in his work, a week early and watches Shirogane look at it, wearily.

“Are you sure this is 100% top notch work?” he says, taking a drag from his cigar. Kuroko’s nose wrinkles from the smoke.

“Yes, sir,” he pipes, hands clasped behind his back. Shirogane nods, which Kuroko takes as his leave and inches toward the door.

“And, Kuroko?” he adds.

“Yes, sir?”

“A suit next time”

“Yes, sir,” he sighs, exiting the room. He doesn’t know if he can afford a suit in these times. He comes across a surprising but pleasing gift on his desk. A cup of coffee. A note is attached to it which Kuroko unfolds to read.

_-Kiyoshi_

_Kagami told me your day wasn’t going so well, so here’s a treat to keep your hopes up! Say hi to Akashi for me ^~^_

Kuroko smiles, feeling himself fill up with warmth, as he hugs the note to his chest. The coffee is delicious, not too bitter and not too sweet and Kuroko tastes the hint of a vanilla creamer- Kiyoshi’s specialty. His smile widens, peeping at the clock which reads 1:15. He sighs, feeling exhaustion settle into his bones. He doesn’t know if it’s because of malnutrition or overwork (he suspects both) but he’s down to his last breath. But he sucks it up and goes back to work.

>> 

Kuroko stares at the second hand _. 2:59:05, 2:59:10, 2:59:35, 2:59:55_ , 3:00. A wave of happiness floods over himself until he feels himself dizzy with bliss. He puts all his work back into his backpack and grabs his coat.

“Goodbye, Kagami-kun!,” he smiles at the intern, who waves back, blinking at Kuroko’s unusual behavior. There’s a skip in his step as he walks into the elevator. He smiles at the man in there who looks around him before waving, uncertainly, back.

“Goodbye, Kuroko!,” Kiyoshi waves at him at the lobby and Kuroko feels happy enough to give him a high-five.

“Have a good day, Katsura-san!,” He calls out the lobby man and walks briskly to the bus stop. He’s shivering from both the cold and excitement. The sky is already dark, despite it being only 3 and clouds jumble together, dark and menacing looking making Kuroko wonder if it’s going to rain today. _Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter anyways,_ he thinks, at the bus stop.

Luck is on his side because the next bus arrives in 3 minutes and Kuroko walks onto it, sitting down in a seat near the back. Almost immediately, he feels a lump in his throat arrive. _Ah, how strange, It feels like I’m about to cry._ He blinks rapidly, feeling the expected tightening of his chest.

He feels the weight of the past two years fall on him like a brick. He remembers the warning signs; Akashi staying at work full time , hardly ever home, the hesitancy slipping past his cool façade when Kuroko would ask for new clothes, the brittleness and cold personality he would bring to bed leaving Kuroko scared and helpless. He remembers when Akashi came to him, drenched in rain, broken. His father had lost all their money and the Akashi conglomerate had to be sold into different branches. Akashi’s father had denied him inheritance and Akashi was left with nothing to his name. He remembers the first few months, harsh and painful. The two of them getting by with Kuroko’s measly $100 a week paycheck, huddled up in blankets to protect themselves from the cold winter.

He remembers the pain etched deep in Akashi’s eyes whenever Kuroko would ask him if he had found a job yet. Akashi would always smile and say he was looking but Kuroko saw beyond that. He remembers how Akashi did _everything_ for Kuroko, bringing him lunch to work, despite the many time Kuroko had told him about saving their money. He remembers how ashamed and depressed Akashi was for the longest time, refusing to leave bed. He remembers how close they were to getting thrown out into the streets.

He remembers the drunken nights Akashi would come home, mean and upset. He remembers the fights and the shouting, the turn point of their relationship. He remembers the harsh, demeaning things Akashi would tell him on those nights. He remembers Akashi holding him, crying, telling him he’ll fix it, fix _this,_ that he _loves_ him. He remembers the tears when Akashi proposed, on one knee in their small apartment, holding out a gleaming diamond ring. Akashi had set aside a few bills every day for the past year since he had proposed to save up for the ring. He remembers falling into his arms, so thankful and grateful he has Akashi.

He remembers the night he told him he had enlisted for the Army. Akashi had shown him the award grant for soldiers. He remembers the crying, the fighting beforehand. He remembers Akashi telling him he wanted a fiancé to come home to. He remembers sending Akashi off, kissing him, loving him, and telling him to call every night.

Kuroko quickly wipes the tears from his eyes, coughing to release the lump in his throat. He quickly looks around to see if anyone had seen him. The bus stops in front of Terminal 5 and Kuroko gets out, breaths coming out in fast huffs and he walks, slowly, to the doors. The minute he sees the lean figure, clad in the Japanese Naval Uniform the tears start falling. Akashi, _his_ Akashi starts smiling, a wide-toothed grin that fills his entire face and he opens his arms. Kuroko drops his backpack, his jacket, everything in his hands and runs into those arms.

“I’m back, baby,” Akashi murmurs as he tightens his hold around Kuroko’s waist. Kuroko is crying, but they’re tears of happiness and Akashi is spinning him around and he’s never been this _happy_ because the truth is- he doesn’t care if the girls at work harass him, he doesn’t care if they’re living off of 100 a week, he doesn’t care if they don’t eat sometimes at night. As long as he’s in Akashi’s arms, he knows they’ll be alright.


End file.
